Abstract

Democracy gives people the same right to vote and to be voted in apolitical position. High citizen participation in leader election is utilized as anindicator of the quality of democracy. On the other hand, citizen participationin the election in some cases in some districts of Indonesia did not run smoothlyand peacefully but in the case of Medan city, the periodical election of regionalheads did not show the social upheaval of different options as wellas in the segmentation of ethnic groups as supporters of candidates competingin it. This study is aimed at discovering the interest pattern of PASTI and JokoTingkir as ethnic groups and political compensation, which was gained by themin Pilkada of Medan city in 2015. This study employed qualitative research withcase study type. The research data were obtained through in-depth interviews,library study, documentation, and focus group discussion. It is found that thereis a similarity pattern of ethnic group involvement in constructing politicalcommunication with contestant but there is difference of orientation of postelectioncompensation expectation.